1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a glass support member and particularly to a glass support member that is used for fixing a glass plate to a window frame part of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a glass plate is mounted to a window frame part of a front window, a side window, or a rear window of a vehicle such as an automobile, for example. Such a window frame part is usually formed by adjoining the glass plate to a body flange of the vehicle with adhesive. However, because some time is required to cure the adhesive, a member for supporting and fixing the glass plate in place needs to be used to prevent the glass plate from being displaced with respect to the body flange during such curing time.
For example, a support clip is conventionally used as such a fixing member (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-105038). The support clip includes a base to be fixed to the glass plate and a column that projects towards the body flange from the base. Also, the body flange includes a through hole for accommodating the column. Thus, when the glass plate and the body flange are brought close together to face each other, the column of the support clip is inserted into the through hole of the body flange, and in this way, the glass plate may be (temporarily) fixed to the body flange.
As described above, in the process of manufacturing a window frame part of a vehicle, a support clip has typically been used as a member for temporarily fixing the glass plate in place (hereinafter, referred to as “temporary fixing member”).
Note that in some cases, a glass plate that is quite large and heavy may be mounted to the window frame part of a vehicle. In the case of supporting such a large glass plate, at least two (usually four or more) temporary fixing members have to be arranged at predetermined positions of the glass plate.
However, in the case of using support clips as temporary fixing members, because the columns of the support clips have to be inserted into corresponding through holes of the body flange, the position of the glass plate with respect to the body flange may be restricted. As the number of support clips having columns inserted into corresponding through holes of the body flange increases, greater restrictions may be imposed on the positioning of the glass plate and the body flange. That is, as the number of the support clips increases, freedom and flexibility in positioning the glass plate with respect to the body flange is restricted. Thus, it may be difficult to insert all the columns of the support clips into their corresponding through holes of the body flange unless the positions of the columns of the support clips and the positions of corresponding through holes of the body flange are properly aligned.
As one measure to address such a problem, the support clips may be used in combination with hook-and-loop fasteners as temporary fixing members. For example, two support clips may be arranged at two locations on a lower side of the glass plate (lower side of window frame part) and corresponding through holes may be formed at two locations of the body flange. In addition, two hook/loop fasteners may be arranged at two locations on an upper side of the glass plate (upper side of window frame part) and corresponding hook/loop fasteners may be arranged at two locations of the body flange.
In such a case, in a first step, the columns of the two support clips may be inserted into the corresponding through holes of the body flange to fix the lower side of the glass plate in place with respect to the body flange, and then, in a second step, the corresponding hook-and-loop fasteners may be fastened to each other to fix the upper side of the glass plate in place with respect to the body flange. In the above case, because the second step involves fastening the hook-and-loop fasteners to each other rather than inserting the columns of the support clips into the corresponding through holes of the body flange as in the case where all of the temporary fixing members constitute support clips, the problem of not being able to insert the columns into the corresponding through holes of the body flange in the second step and thereby not being able to mount the glass plate to the body flange may be avoided, for example.
However, in such a case, the hook/loop fasteners have to be arranged at both the body flange and the glass plate. Thus, the number of components required for manufacturing the window frame part may be increased, and the manufacturing process may become complicated. As a result, production efficiency may decrease and manufacturing costs may increase, for example.